#donatellarose

"That's still the cutest thing I've ever seen. And stars just for me? I must be special then."

She leaned slightly closer, her shoulder resting against his as her gaze returned to the night sky. Now that she thought about it, stars didn't move in prearranged patterns like the drones that always patrolled Linkon did.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, she shook her head as she was overcome with the type of laughter that only a tired and overworked being could produce. When she tried to restrain her giggles, she snorted which only drove her to laugh harder. Hiding her face in his shirt, she tried to speak through her chuckles.

"I'm so tired. I just want to go home."

"You're the most special," he corrected and let the lightness carry their laughter together, creating a sweet melody while their shoulders shook together.

The weight of her head against his chest made his heart skip a beat, it always did, but there was warmth and peace for it all too. This was the best part of being alone with her, no restraints to hold them back or keep a face up. All he had to concern himself with was her.

As he placed a hand on the back of her head to gently keep her against him, he placed his other in her hand, curling his fingers into hers and kissed the top of her hair.

"Mm? Then let's go home. We can see the stars from our own balcony better. We can say simply that... the power went out and we couldn't work anymore."

"Xavier, you might know this. Is that group of stars a specific constellation? "

Xavier moaned a little from the feeling of tightness in his neck that had settled in from his position of being bent over his desk, face first.

"Hmm?"

As he struggled into an upright position, he rolled his neck and blinked bleary eyes in her direction to catch the way she looked against the skyline. Mesmerized, he didn't want to look away, but he did to follow her gaze as he rose and walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window.

A soft laugh escaped him. "Yes, yes. This one is familiar. That's the drone constellation. That bright one there that's moving towards us? Droney #1, and that other dim one that's moving farther away from us? Lesser Drone #2." He teased, but placed a hand on her lower back to soothe. "We can't see the stars very well from here, too much city light. If you want to see more stars though...."

She had quickly hidden the gem from her colleagues. Racing out of work without changing from her uniform or fixing her blonde hair, now messy from a day of dealing with wanderers, she tapped lightly on the front door unsure if he would even answer.

The knock was barely audible beneath the storm rolling through the N109 Zone.

Rain hit the metal roofing in uneven waves, neon bleeding across puddles outside the safe house in fractured reds and blues. For a moment, nothing happened.

Then the locks disengaged.

Sylus stood there in dark sleeves rolled to his forearms, silver hair slightly disheveled like he’d been interrupted mid-task rather than mid-sleep. His red eyes flicked over her instantly.

The gem caught the light again as it rolled between her fingers. “I was wondering where that ended up.”

He stepped aside without hesitation, opening the door wider for her. “Come in before one of the charming denizens of the N109 decides to investigate why a Hunter is standing on my doorstep,”